Broiler Chicken Campaign

We launched the Broiler Chicken Campaign to help the around 600 million chickens that are fattened and slaughtered in Germany every year – that’s more than 80% of all slaughtered land animals. Despite the increasing popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets, combined with the intention of many people to reduce their meat consumption, this figure has remained relatively constant (in 2010, for example, the figure was 591 million). Since there is little prospect of significantly reducing the number of broiler chickens through campaigns designed to persuade consumers to change their behaviours, we see it as our duty to reduce the suffering of these animals as far as we possibly can. This is why we launched the Broiler Chicken Campaign together with 25 animal welfare and animal rights organisations from all over Europe. The campaign aims to address the areas that contribute most significantly to the enormous suffering in the poultry fattening industry. To achieve this, we developed the EU Broiler Ask in which we outline a series of demands for companies in the food industry.

The EU Broiler Ask in detail

The criteria defined in the Broiler Chicken Campaign are considerably more stringent than those required by animal welfare law and also the standards of the »Initiative Tierwohl« (Animal Welfare Initiative), according to which a proportion of the meat sold in supermarkets and discounter chains is sold. The table below highlights the main differences:

Standard in DE

»Initiative Tierwohl«

EU Broiler Ask

Stocking density

39kg/m² (up to 26 animals/m²)

35kg/m² (up to 23 animals/m²)

30kg/m² (up to 20 animals/m²)

Access to free-range areas

No

No

No

Thinning

Unrestricted

Unrestricted

Max. 1 per flock

Restriction on overbreeding

No

No

Yes

Daylight

Partial, 20 Lux

Partial, 20 Lux

Yes, 50 Lux

Perches

No

No

2m/1.000 Animals

Pecking substrates

No

One for approx. 3.000 animals

Two for 1.000 animals

improved air quality

No

No

Yes

Stunning without hanging birds upside down

No

No

Yes

Third-party audits

No

Yes

Yes

Before we look at the details, the criteria defined in the Broiler Chicken Campaign represent a big step in the right direction. Indeed, given the current level of research and knowledge in the areas of animal health and welfare, we could quite legitimately demand a lot more, but the reality of the situation prevents us from demanding too much, too soon. This is why we – in collaboration with the other organisations – have created a compromise that reflects everything that we believe is currently achievable.

Stocking density

Studies show that the stocking density would have to be reduced to 25 kg/m² in order to prevent certain kinds of sickness and disease – painful inflammations, for example – and give the animals some freedom to move around. Our proposed 30 kg/m² is a step in the right direction that was calculated by striking a balance between cost- and benefit-related considerations.

Access to free-range areas

Here, too, the campaign has reached a compromise: winter gardens and free-range areas require expensive conversion measures and are rarely approved anyway. Since our mission is to establish our demands as the new minimum standard, we cannot demand access to free-range areas.

Thinning

Thinning describes the process whereby a proportion of chickens are removed from a shed for slaughter earlier than the rest. This causes considerable stress both for the captured chickens and for those that remain in the shed. This method is used for increasing the number of animals that can be fattened in a shed. While our campaign calls for an end to thinning, it does permit it a maximum of once in each fattening cycle.

Overbreeding

We consider the »hybrid lines« used in standard poultry fattening processes (including »Initiative Tierwohl«) to constitute torture breeding. The animals grow so fast that their skeleton and internal organs are placed under a huge amount of stress. In addition, the animals are bred to have such large chest muscles that many of them can no longer keep their balance. The Broiler Chicken Campaign prohibits this. That said, the hybrid lines for fattening can arise from a cross between animals from intensive and less intensive breeding practices, which means that our campaign cannot solve the problem of possible torture breeding among the parent animals.

Daylight

Sheds approved prior to 2009 are not required to provide the animals with any daylight. Although more recently constructed sheds are required to have windows, in reality only very little daylight actually enters the sheds. Consider the following comparison: the standard 20 lux is roughly equivalent to moonlight, while the 50 lux demanded in our campaign offers at least as much light required for, say, a person to read a newspaper. This is relevant because chickens are unable to practice their normal behavioural repertoire at less than 50 lux.

Perches, pecking substrates and air quality

Chickens like to sit at a height, and pecking is one of their basic needs. Under the conditions demanded in the EU Broiler Ask, the animals can do both at least to some extent. Air quality is also important because elevated concentrations of harmful gases (e.g. ammonia) can cause suffering.

Stunning and slaughter

The legal standard and »Initiative Tierwohl« permit electrical waterbath stunning. Here, the chickens are hung upside down by their legs in a shackle, a process that frequently results in broken bones and other injuries. With their heads immersed, the birds then pass through an electrical waterbath that is designed to induce unconsciousness. Unfortunately, an insufficient stunning effect is all too common with this method. Our campaign calls for an end to hanging birds upside down and helps to considerably reduce the risk of an insufficient stunning effect. The most common alternative to the electrical waterbath – two-stage CO2 stunning – is less problematic, but still causes pain and stress.

Audits

We are calling for an annual standards audit to be conducted by an independent third party.

Time frame

The companies are required to implement the criteria in full by 2026 at the latest, although we do expect German companies to implement the criteria more quickly. We chose the year 2026 to make the deadline more realistic for southern and eastern European countries, where animal welfare standards generally lag behind.

Successes of the Broiler Chicken Campaign

The following companies support the demands outlined in the campaign and plan to implement them (click the links to read the statements issued by the companies).

Campaign against IKEA

We are currently calling on IKEA to meet the requirements of the EU Broiler Ask, although we have put the campaign against them on hold because IKEA has expressed a willingness to act. All that remains to be done here is to formulate one specific criterion. If this proves successful, then we can chalk IKEA up as a success – if not, we will be forced to resume the campaign.

Further campaigns against companies

Since Unilever, Nestlé and Danone (the issue of chicken meat is relevant outside Germany) – three of the biggest food producers – have resolved to comply with the demands, we will soon be directing our Broiler Chicken Campaign against other food producers who are failing to follow the example of the other companies. We are currently in the process of preparing our next campaign, which will also be our biggest to date.